Movie Musings: Disney and More

Sleeping Beauty: Disney’s Greatest Flop-turned-Hit!

One of my personal favorite Disney films has always been Sleeping Beauty (1959). I think it is a beautiful story with beautiful music, brilliant animation, and a tip-top voice cast. Today it is highly regarded by the Walt Disney Studios as a classic, but did you know it didn’t do very well when it first came out on January 29th, 1959? Did you also know that some of the actors in the voice cast of the film weren’t the studios’ first choices for the characters in the film? Walt Disney always encouraged the staff at his studio to make every film that they produced unique in its own way, and never make any two films seem exactly alike, and in this blog I thought we would explore how “Sleeping Beauty,” was unique, and how it became a huge hit despite early box-office struggles.

Of all the animated films that the studio produced in the 1950s, Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), Lady & the Tramp (1955), “Beauty,” turned out to be the most expensive. The production cost a total of $6 million and only grossed $5.3 million in its initial release. The film was also criticized for having a slow-paced story and lacking in character development. As a result of this, 5% of the employees at Disney had to be let go. The studio, however, managed to earn back much of the money that they had lost on “Sleeping Beauty,” two years later with 101 Dalmatians (1961).  

Hans Conried, who is best known at Disney for playing the dual role of Captain Hook/Mr. Darling in “Peter Pan,” was originally cast in the role of Sleeping Beauty’s/Princess Aurora’s father, King Stefan. He even recorded some lines for the role before being replaced by Taylor Holmes. There is a demo of a deleted song from the film, a duet called “It Happens I Have a Picture,” featured on the Legacy Soundtrack of the film, which is sung by Conried and Bill Thompson (the voice of King Hubert, Prince Philip’s father in the movie).

Eleanor Audley, who had previously voiced Lady Tremaine/Wicked Stepmother in “Cinderella,” was Walt Disney’s first choice for the role of the ruthless Maleficent in the film, but she initially shocked Walt by turning down the role. (She declined because she was battling tuberculosis at the time of the film’s production). Miraculously, she recovered while the film was still in production and accepted the role just in time. Marc Davis, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men, who animated both Maleficent and Aurora in the film, drew Maleficent’s facial features in resemblance to Audley’s facial features. (Audley also voiced Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.)  

Bill Shirley, who was primarily known as a singer, was cast by Disney as both the speaking and singing voice of Prince Philip in “Sleeping Beauty.” The role would be his last job as an actor, but he continued to sing until his untimely death at the age of 68 on August 27, 1989. Five years after “Sleeping Beauty,” Bill Shirley supplied his singing voice for Jeremy Brett in the movie-musical My Fair Lady (1964), based on the Broadway musical of the same name. “My Fair Lady,” was released the same year as the Disney blockbuster, Mary Poppins (1964).

Mary Costa provided the voice of Aurora in the film and Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, and Barbara Luddy voiced the Three Good Fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. However, none of those actors did the live-action modeling. Helene Stanley, who had previously modeled for “Cinderella,” modeled for Aurora, while Spring Byington, Madge Blake, and Frances Bavier (“Aunt Bea” on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968)) modeled for the Three Good Fairies. (Audrey Hepburn’s slim body was also used as inspiration for Aurora’s slim body in the film.) 

Sleeping Beauty was re-released theatrically in 1970, 1986, and 1995. Each of these re-releases brought the film to a total gross of $51.6 million, making it the second most-successful film of 1959, the 1st being Ben-Hur (1959) which grossed $146.9 million in its initial release. It’s a shame to learn that despite having a talented cast, and amazing crew, the result of both didn’t pay off with audiences back in ’59. One might say that “Sleeping Beauty,” for Walt Disney, turned out to be what Citizen Kane (1941) was to Orson Welles—or what It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) was to Frank Capra. All were “flops-turned-hits!”